Welcome Queen's win signals 'great start' to AIL progress plans

But indicative of how the students having been playing this year, they nearly threw it away despite leading 36-17 after 50 minutes and had to withstand a Naas onslaught in the final quarter to claim the five points.

Director of Rugby DJ Creighton was relieved at the final whistle, especially as Queen’s had blown winning positions in their two previous home games with Garryowen and Blackrock.

“I'm really proud of the lads, I think over the past four games we've been in every game, some really good performances...maybe we just didn't get on the right side of the result a couple of times,” said Creighton. “Good to get a win on Saturday and I thought we probably looked as good as we have looked at stages.

“I'm proud of the lads for fighting at the end there, it probably became too close for comfort but just delighted to get a win and keep going forward.

“They're a really good group of players and they work seriously hard and, hopefully, now it's a catalyst for them to kick on for the rest of the season.

Creighton had praise for the pack and backs.

“It's a big physical league, there are lots of big sides in it and I think they (the pack) have fronted up...couple of big scrums, couple of big line-out moments and we come out of those on top and those were really important to get the win.

“I thought in the early exchanges they (the backs) looked really threatening and maybe became a little bit cagey towards the end...but they certainly took their chances really well and put some beautiful scores away.”

The win helped Queen’s pull away from the relegation dog fight.

“We haven't looked too hard at the league table, it's important to keep an eye on it but we're a performance-based team and we look for performances every week,” said Creighton. “There have been aspects of every game so far that have been really positive and also aspects that we've had to work on...so we're nowhere near where we want to be just yet but certainly we're working hard to try and get to a place where we're a really strong team in the league...today is a great start.

“Plenty of work to go but we'll see where we are in a couple of weeks.”

Queen’s had their bonus point wrapped up by half-time - winger Ryan Street ghosted through a gap for a super individual try sandwiched between maul tries from hooker Henry Walker as Adam Hewitt got the fourth and Dan Green converted all in a 28-17 half-time lead. Green added a penalty and Street crossed for his second try to put Queen’s 19 points up before the Naas fightback.

It was defeat for Instonians at Trinity by 29-26 although Paul Pritchard’s side picked up two points, while City of Armagh picked up a losing bonus point in a 31-24 reversal at Blackrock.

Ballynahinch conceded eight tries in a 52-12 home defeat against Terenure.

In Division 2A, Dungannon drew at Cashell while there were defeats for Ballymena and Banbridge.

Rainey enjoyed a 31-14 bonus point win over Enniscorthy in 2B while Clogher Valley and Malone both lost.

In 2C, Ballyclare and Belfast Harlequins each finished down.